I always knew the top 20 or so players in the league at the time as a casual fan, now I don't as a big time fan. Yesterday I had a conversation with my best friend (who is fanatic sports fan when it comes to the NBA, NFL, and MLB. He made an interesting point that the NBA has become so water down that there's really only 2 or 3 contenders in a league with 30+ teams..

You know what else is crazy, since 2008 the NBA draft has produce 3 stars ( KD, westbrook, and blake) the last 3 number 1 picks WALL, IRVING, DAVIS are not even playing in the NBA because of injury.

Now there have been some good players that have been ok like Steph curry, Harden, mayo ect, but no one close to the labrons, kobe's, wades, ewings, malones, pipins, stocktons, jordans.

The 90's stars are getting old (the ones that are left) and there has not been to many replacements in the last 8/9 yrs, or since the 2003.

The NFL produce's super stars in almost every draft, yet the NBA is failing to put a good product on the floor, and then you have coaches sending players home to get rest on a national televise game.

It kills me when I here poeple say they haven't watch basketball since Jordan left the BULLs, thats sad, but totally understandable.

It also seems like players get hurt a lot quicker, and take a lot longer to return and thats with all kinds of improve medical knowledge, equipment, ect.

Why are there no more rivalries, why are the same teams consistantly bad for so long, why are players coming into the league now with more experience and less production, why no more polish centers or great shooters..WTF is going on..

knicks1248 wrote:I really didn't become a basketball junkie til the late 80's, I always love the sport, played it and watch it as a kid and a young adult, but It was the knicks and Bulls rivarly that made me into a fan-atic

I always knew the top 20 or so players in the league at the time as a casual fan, now I don't as a big time fan. Yesterday I had a conversation with my best friend (who is fanatic sports fan when it comes to the NBA, NFL, and MLB. He made an interesting point that the NBA has become so water down that there's really only 2 or 3 contenders in a league with 30+ teams..

You know what else is crazy, since 2008 the NBA draft has produce 3 stars ( KD, westbrook, and blake) the last 3 number 1 picks WALL, IRVING, DAVIS are not even playing in the NBA because of injury.

Now there have been some good players that have been ok like Steph curry, Harden, mayo ect, but no one close to the labrons, kobe's, wades, ewings, malones, pipins, stocktons, jordans.

The 90's stars are getting old (the ones that are left) and there has not been to many replacements in the last 8/9 yrs, or since the 2003.

The NFL produce's super stars in almost every draft, yet the NBA is failing to put a good product on the floor, and then you have coaches sending players home to get rest on a national televise game.

It kills me when I here poeple say they haven't watch basketball since Jordan left the BULLs, thats sad, but totally understandable.

It also seems like players get hurt a lot quicker, and take a lot longer to return and thats with all kinds of improve medical knowledge, equipment, ect.

Why are there no more rivalries, why are the same teams consistantly bad for so long, why are players coming into the league now with more experience and less production, why no more polish centers or great shooters..WTF is going on..

NBA is run as a reality TV show.
The level of bbal is not a concern, the entertainment value is.
Everybody want to make more money and this means more teams, more people around bbal, so less quality on every level.
Typical corporation - mindless, dysfunctional, greedy, inefficient, paranoid, and absurd.
Not much different from any other corporate debacle of our time.
And this is rooted not is some conspiracy but in the fact that this what we The People want - "Bread and entertainment!!!"
And the Rom will surely fall.

knicks1248 wrote:Why are there no more rivalries, why are the same teams consistantly bad for so long, why are players coming into the league now with more experience and less production, why no more polish centers or great shooters..WTF is going on..

Too many teams, maybe too many games, and the players want to join up and create superteams instead of wanting beating each other.

If any league highlights the huge disparity in talent from team to team, it's the NBA.

This should be another reason to hope we win the title this year, at least it'll be something NEW.

knicks1248 wrote:

K22 wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:Why are there no more rivalries, why are the same teams consistantly bad for so long, why are players coming into the league now with more experience and less production, why no more polish centers or great shooters..WTF is going on..

Too many teams, maybe too many games, and the players want to join up and create superteams instead of wanting beating each other.

If any league highlights the huge disparity in talent from team to team, it's the NBA.

This should be another reason to hope we win the title this year, at least it'll be something NEW.

This is the one opportunity the knicks have had in a long time to win it all..Teams can't even win back to back titles no more..

You do realize that the Lakers won back to back titles literally a few years ago? As for the rest of your post.

I don't know why you're saying there are only 2-3 contenders or what you're basing that on. By my count there are at least 7: Knicks, Heat, Grizzlies, Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, and Lakers and Boston and Chicago might still get there.

Injuries have always been a part of sports. Of the top of my head: Bill Walton and Kevin McHale had career altering/ending foot injuries; Larry Bird and Ralph Sampson had career altering/ending back injuries; Patrick Ewing had career altering knee injuries; Michael Jordan missed virtually his entire 2nd season to a broken foot; Len Bias died from a cocaine overdose and countless others had their careers affected.

There's a talent drought? First of all, you're comparing the last few years' drafts to the drafts between 1984 (Jordan) and 2003 (Lebron and Wade). It's a hell of a lot easier to find all-world talent when you're looking at 19 years worth of drafts and comparing them to 2 years, Mayo was drafted 2008 and Harden and Curry were drafted 2009. And, if anything there was a talent drought that started in the late 90's and lasted until the mid-2000's. Take a look at the All-NBA teams (http://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/all_league.html), the All-Star rosters (http://www.basketball-reference.com/allstar/NBA_2012.html), and the drafts (http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2012.html) over the years. Seriously, that 2000 draft was awful http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2000.html. Mike Miller won ROY and either Turkoglu or Michael Redd was the best player out of that draft. From 1999-2002 there are two drafts without any Hall of Famers and another one that might have one.